A year in the life of Open Access support: choosing LEAN and continuous improvement Jackie Proven Repository & Open Access Services Manager

Open Access support “It’s complicated!” Describing our work often involved drawing diagrams of the interaction between policies, infrastructure and people. It became clear that we needed a way to navigate this complexity that raised awareness, involved more people across the University, and that would help us solve a few problems.

OA support Open Access (OA) Support team – 3 FTE (2 posts funded externally) External funders’ open access mandates and funds Selection and management of publisher schemes Payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs) Copyright, licensing and policy advice Deposit of publications in our repository Active programme of advocacy and support

OA policy “The University encourages its researchers to provide Open Access to published research outputs...” – Researchers are free to publish in the venue of their choice – Preference is for the ‘green’ route – Also supports ‘gold’ in particular circumstances Funder policies – Wellcome Trust… Charities fund – RCUK… block grant – EU pilots… Horizon 2020 requirements – OA for REF!!

REF* OA policy Post-2014 REF Open Access Policy Policy applies to journal articles and conference proceedings with an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) To be eligible for REF, final peer-reviewed manuscripts must have been deposited in an institutional or subject repository on acceptance for publication HEFCE understands that not all REF outputs may be able to meet requirements and so limited exceptions will be permitted *Research Excellence Framework

Challenges How do we get to know about new publications so that the support and dialogue can begin? The natural dialogue of authors is with their publishers, not their Institutional Repository or Library University strongly encourages OA via local deposit but no mandate How do authors know where to find help to make informed choices and ensure compliance?

Solutions Open up channels between the researchers’ workflows and open access support workflows Build a dialogue through local systems and contact Change the culture and try to integrate this deposit process into the researchers workflow when publishing Emphasize incentives for authors Provide support and advice for authors and make it (relatively) easy

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Originally envisaged to cover funder mandates and APCs Extended to cover REF OA policy and publication lifecycle Energised us and gave focus Involving the right people Communications strategy for open access – Simple message(s) at key points – New web pages – Clear points of contact Using 2014 and 2015 as a learning experience and be ready for the real onset of compliance in 2016 LEAN plan

SPECIFIC: ‘Deposit in PURE’ should become part of University research culture by April 2015 MEASURABLE: Baseline deposit statistics in May 2014, to be reviewed in 6 months ACHIEVABLE: Yes - Has to be to prepare for the next REF REALISTIC: Incentives to change behaviour are now greater (REF). We have PURE and central support in place TIMESCALE: April 2015 (to be well prepared for REF) LEAN plan

Lean exercise: process mapping

Pathfinder project Joint LOCH project with Edinburgh and Heriot Watt the-loch-blog/ Community of practice and best practice Synergies with LEAN Mini pathfinder pilot projects with academic schools to develop efficiencies

Mini pathfinders Initial meeting with key staff Have a set of questions and discussion points ready, relevant to their discipline. Ask how they think they can achieve compliance Seed ideas for partnerships and joint working Listen!

18 Jackie Proven LIBER 2015, London, June Additional actions Library advises authors on additional funder requirementsLibrary advises on funding for immediate OA Follow-up and advice Library contacts authors/office for additional information and/or correct versions Library validation Library enhances metadataLibrary checks version, applies embargoes School office enters article in PURE Create new metadata recordUpload full text accepted manuscript Author notifies School office Forward notification Send accepted manuscript Article accepted by publisher Author receives notification(Library may receive notification) Advice on data management Workflow

Checklist

Results Returning customers Requests for training sessions Increase in enquiries…Resolving queries Upskilling in fine detail of Hefce policy Contact with School administrators and PAs Learning what motivates authors to buy in to OA Understanding disciplinary needs and approaches Reporting good stats on usage Increase in content and compliance

Jackie Proven Pure deposits validated 2014/15 Changing profile of deposits

Jackie Proven LIBER 2015, London, June Changing culture through pathfinder

Further information LEAN case study: Open Access ‘essentials’ web pages Library OA support web pages Open Access blog: